If you're a dork and you know it, clap your hands!

Michael 5000, whom you may know from his awesome blog: The Life & Times of Michael 5000 (the internet's preeminent provider of difficult pop quizzes on arbitrary topics ...and glib little posts about creative arts and dork culture) is hosting the second annual Dorkfest! Go on over and check out the submissions. I encourage you to revel in your inner dorkiness by participating. Last year I chickened out... I still felt that being a dork was a bad thing. But I was heartened by the many posts and along with the other changes in my life recently I have decided to fully embrace my dorkiness. If I'm going to be a dork... I may as well try to be the dorkiest dang dork in town. Or you know... in Thailand.

Herein lies my submission for Dorkfest 2008:


To start with, I looked up the definition of “Dork” in multiple places to have an accurate operational definition from which to plead my case. I was unsatisfied with the definitions given as they don’t make a clear distinction between nerd & dork so I made up my own definition. To be a dork, one must have some obsessive traits, a hobby or quirk that is not generally accepted by mainstream society, and also display some degree of overall social ineptitude. Dorks share with nerds an interest in ‘school subjects’ (math, science, history) but unlike nerds are not necessarily experts in those fields. They think string theory is cool… but couldn’t tell you how you exactly how it works. They read XKCD, but only get about half the references.

Now that I've created my own operational definition... here are the ways in which I'm a complete and total dork.

Obsessive traits:

I read a book walking too and from work every day for a year to avoid talking to my neighbor.

The X-Files was an obsession of mine for several years. I read many X-Phile fan sites and even wrote my own, extremely crappy fan-fiction for it. When it jumped the shark I suffered intense emotional trauma that I have only recently begun to overcome.

Hobbies and quirks:

Knitting, quilting & embroidery are my major hobbies. Which I'll admit have come into vogue as hip & funky crafts... but I did needlework back when it was full-on dork-o-rama. I finished this piece in college. Yes, while my classmates were out drinking & getting stoned, I was cross-stitching.

I decoupage.

I look up new foods on Wikipedia before I try them… (and am now afraid to eat the persimmon I picked up at the market for fear of intestinal adhesions.)

This blog has 30 posts devoted to "Caturday".

Parades make me cry for joy.

I love Swing Dancing, and have a profound respect for Square Dancing & Clogging as part of our American cultural heritage.

Not only did I participate in Nanowrimo 2007, I completed my novella and printed out my certificate for posterity. I even bought the mug.

Wanna-be nerd factor:

I love watching documentaries. PBS was my favorite channel before I got cable, then it became the history & science channels. Basically, if the names Neil deGrasse Tyson or Ken Burns appear in the credits - I'll watch it. But unlike a nerd, I am unable to recall any of the pertinent information when necessary... say for a Thursday quiz. ;)

My favorite punctuation mark is the points of ellipses … could it be replaced by new-comer the interobang!?

I have a favorite punctuation mark.

I use blue-tooth technology to access the internet, and yet still have an AOL email account.
(the distinction being, a nerd would have a g-mail account, or better yet, some new fancy account I've never heard of)

Social ineptitude: (this is where my inner dork shines shines shines)

I showed up for my CELTA course orientation dressed in teacher clothes full skirt and button down top – everyone else was in shorts & flip flops.

I participate in the dork community – I read both Boing Boing and WWDN and XKCD on a regular basis.

I have more than 15 pieces of flair on my facebook account.

I made it to #4 ranking for number of posts on my online knitting forum then changed my user account at the new year. It’s took nearly 6 months for someone to overtake my #4 spot, and another two to drop me down to #6.

Let’s break that down, shall we:

1. I belong to an online knitting forum. a) knitting is still considered dorky by a great many people, b) it’s an online craft forum.

2. I posted so much I earned the #4 spot for total posts.

3. I was so far ahead of my competition, that even after I started posting under a different account, the old account held it’s position for MONTHS.

4. I check the total-post rankings

5. I check the total post rankings on a user account I don’t even use anymore!

6. I just did the math and if I’d kept using that account, I’d still be #4.

And for the record… it’s one of four online craft communities that I belong to.

I have more friends online than I do IRL and I have not actually been on a date since Dorkfest 2007. =/

I currently live in what is quite possibly the most beautiful and amazing country in Asia, and yet I spend hours - HOURS a day in my room, in front of my computer, reading blogs & playing Spider Solitaire.

Two month check in.

I've been in Thailand for two months now and thought it would be interesting to list all the things I've done for the first time since coming here.

New foods tried:
- random stuff from street vendors*
- Thai taco thing
- Pad ka pow moo - (rice, pork, veggies - but not fried together)
- Pad se yoo - (noodle dish)
- Tom yam (soup)
- Som tom (salad type thing)
- various juices from fruits I can't identify
- this seriously awesome salty-fish tasting cracker stick thing they have at the school
- mango with sweet sticky rice
- sweet sticky rice with some weird custard type thing on top
- rhoti (a crepe filled with chocolate or bananas and sweetened condensed milk and all folded up)
- surprise buns
- Kow mok gai (yellow rice with seasoned chicken)
- Larb (funky weird pork dish)

New experiences career related:
- passed the CELTA course*
- took a job 400 miles away - site unseen* (I don't actually recommend this - or plan to do it again)
- taught English classes!*
- taught English classes for which I was completely unprepared!*
- taught a class of kids*


New experiences general:
- Moved to Thailand!*
- visited a tropical island - Ko Samet
- swam in the Gulf of Thailand
- went to a Buddhist Temple
- rode in a tuk-tuk*
- rode in a songthaew*
- rode on the back of a friend's motorbike
- rode on the back of a stranger's motorbike*
- drove a motorbike (while supervised)*
- played poker for money (and WON!)
- saw an Elephant on the street
- ordered food in Thai
- nearly got scammed but walked away with all my money
- am a minority
- haggled*
- used a cell phone for internet access
- used a squat toilet =/
- used a bidet
- got my legs waxed
- got a traditional Thai massage
- got caught in monsoon rain (twice!)



I anticipate that the number of new experiences will dwindle as I get more and more settled here. But I do hope that I continue to see and do new things and continue to live at the edge of my comfort zone. LOL... It's really funny to think about where my comfort zone was vs. where it is now. For example ... all the things I starred* were things that I was terrified to do before I actually did them. But I've survived to tell the tale, haven't I?




TAG - Code Mango

She sees sea shells by the sea shore.

TAG - Code Mango


Nothing particularly interesting happened today - but it's always a good day when I get to go to the beach. A few more pictures... because I'm evil and I know it's probably getting cold & rainy in the PacNW. ;)I've learned that this beach is called The Pines, because well... there are big ol' pine trees on either side of the road next to the beach. I didn't think pines could grow in the tropics, but clearly they do. Not sure what kind, but it's odd for me to see the long skinny needles in the sand.

The waves were unbelievably calm today. I think I must have come at low tide.
In part because the waves are so gentle, and probably for a lot of other geological reasons I don't totally get - there are TONS of shells on this beach. And a good many of them are whole. There's a part of me that just wants to collect a whole mess of them as souvenirs, but I keep hearing that quote in my head about "Take only pictures, leave only footprints." and I'm trying to stick to that. I did take one shell though...just one, unremarkable but that it was from the first day I visited the beach.



More shells... the variety is just amazing. All different colors and sizes of clam/muscle shells, and also a couple nautalis type shells and flakes of abalone shells. It's all so beautiful reflecting the sun. Oh, and the sound. I wish I could capture the sound for you. When the waves wash up on the shore all the shells knock together, and it's kind of a soft crunchy sound. Ok - sound descriptions are not my strong suit. At the souvenir shops they sell sea shell wind chimes, and they sound like that, only muffled by the water.



Ok - my new favorite post-swim tradition - eating chicken on a stick.
There are all these food vendors with modified motorcycles - the side car is a food cart. So they'll drive up and down the street stopping wherever there are people, ringing their bell to let you know they're there. I really don't know what it is, but it tastes soooo good, and you just can't beat the ambiance.


Across the street from the beach there's a nature park & aroboretum. On my last trip I noticed a sign for the bathroom... but wasn't feeling particularly adventurous - or any real need to check out the facilities. This time however, I had to stop. I really contemplated waiting until I got home - it's only a 30 min ride, but this time I was feeling adventurous... plus the sign had a picture of a shower, and I thought it would be nice to clean up a bit. I thought "how bad can it be?" When traveling abroad - that's always a dangerous question. In actuality, it wasn't that bad. There were squat toilets again, oh... and I had to pay for the privilage. There was no running water at the sinks. =/ And here are the 'showers':

I don't know if that's clean water or rainwater or what. But it's just what it looks like, a big ol' concrete tub of water and a couple bowls - and half a bamboo wall for privacy. I think I mentioned before that Thai people go swimming in their clothes. Well, not necessarily their street clothes, but both men and women wear swimming trunks and t-shirts in the water. I saw a guy walking out of the men's room sopping wet, so I guess they just splash themselves with the fresh water to get rid of the salt & dry off when they dry off. Today I was still pretty committed to wearing a swimsuit (although, will probably pick up some swim trunks soon) and at least attempted to keep my clothes dry. Epic failthough ... as I tried to wash off my arms & legs without getting undressed and proceeded to get almost as wet as if I'd just dunked myself. Then rode back in the Songthaew looking like a half-drowned rat.


What can I say? Living the dream. =)

Learning to read all over again.

Now that I'm more or less settled into a routine with teaching, I've been trying to spend a couple of minutes here and there studying Thai. I have a couple books, but they're only moderately helpful. What's worked the best so far is finding what I'm trying to say in my phrase book, then asking the office staff how to actually say it. Then I experiment. The staff have been more than patient with me. In particular, the cleaning lady has been really friendly, chatting with me (in English) while she works, and playing along as I try to say things like "Have you eaten?" "Yes, I already ate." in Thai (it's a small talk greeting like "How's it going.").


On Monday through Thursday I teach a class half an hour away from the school, and there's a man who drives me. He speaks more English than I do Thai... but really not that much. So I've been experimenting with him as well... digging individual words out of my phrase book like "fon" (rain) and pointing to the dark skies off in the distance. He'll correct me..."Thailand speak - foon tok" then it's another ten minutes in silence. But the trip is still proving to be productive. I studied a couple of the letters using a learn Thai website... and now I look at signs & license plates trying to pick out the letters I know. I was irrationally delighted when I saw the letters Kgor and Mor together and figured out that they stood for Kilometers. Most of the road signs have English translations... which actually isn't helpful in getting me to associate the letter with the sound. But in the case of signs with city names - it's really helpful because the English is really just a transliteration of the Thai word. So... slowly slowly slowly I'm picking up a new letter here and there.


Today Big's two daughters came into the school and were just hanging out in the teacher's room. They were playing on the white board and practicing their English with me. So I turned it around and had them look at my letters as I wrote them - and they corrected me. One of the girls was doing math with arabic numbers, but I had her check my Thai numerals and teach me the words for hundred and thousand. They also taught me how to write "chicken" or more actuately, how to read it... one more step to being able to feed myself!!


That's the big adventure for today. I only had two classes today - one of which I bombed. =/ But I had time to go to Tesco Lotus (the big supermarket/everything store) for lunch and ate something approaching a grilled cheese sandwich. I don't have to work this weekend, so I plan to go to Ban Phe tomorrow. Not quite sure what I'll end up doing on Sunday though.


I need some friends here. =/


TAG - Code Watermelon.

Yet another post about food...

I'm seriously getting in touch with my inner hunter/gatherer these days I have to say. A fair amount of my day is spent thinking about what I can eat, when I can eat, and where I can find food. Fortunately - our brains are specifically designed for this task!

First thing in the morning... or you know, whenever I end up leaving my apartment I usually go across to the gas-station minimart for some breakfast on the way to school

Mmmm... bottled water & surprise pastries! Actually I've figured out that this one is some approximation of chocolate - so it's my go-to breakfast when they have it. (They only stock 1 or 2 of each flavor everyday, so it's kind of hit or miss).


If I'm really hungry, or I don't have a morning class...I'll wait until like 11am and go eat lunch as my first meal.

This is one of the first restaurants I went to as it's on my street... just a little ways up. But the first time I went, the waitresses (who looked really young) just laughed and laughed at me. I mean, yes I couldn't string together two words in Thai, so go ahead and laugh. But when you're hungry and you just want food - it's not a great feeling. I had asked for Pad Thai but apparently they don't serve it there. So I pulled out the only other meal I knew at the time "kow pad gai" (chicken fried rice) - the girls still laughed at me, but some older guy from the back of the restaurant (the cook - their dad - both? who knows) was like "Kow Pad Gai" and nodded. So I ate. I think it might be a Chinese Restaurant...or something. While eating I noticed a menu with pictures - it was all different kinds of bao. So the next time I went I just pointed at one of the pictures of bao (they all look the same from the outside!!!!) and got some kind of sweet bbq pork filling. It was okay... but I just didn't like the vibe.


Fortunately, this restaurant is just across the street.... well, across the street and down half a block.
There's a whole hive of people working at this restaurant and I'm never quite sure who I should be talking to. But they are all very friendly and tend to laugh *near* me not so much *at* me. They seem pretty tolerant of my experiments with speaking Thai. The first few times I went all I ate was fried rice... but then I tried a "What do you recommend" and they brought me Larb. There was pork and liver and sticky rice, it was edible, but not my favorite thing. Since then, I've made learning new foods a top priority and am constantly asking people from school "nee arai" (what's that?) and what I should order.

In the past couple of days I've picked up a couple new food words and can now ask for noodles, and vegetables, and can order a meal that does not appear to be fried. I think I know the word for eggs and am working up the courage to ask for scrambled eggs at some point.


There are a few street vendors around here, although not many. This gal sells fried chicken, a number of packaged baked goods (I had some apricot filled fried dough-type-things that were not great) and a few things wrapped up in banana leaves. I've had mixed experiences with the banana-leaf wrapped foods. Once it was that absolutely heavenly coconut sticky-rice mixture... but another time it was a spicy chicken and herb/veggie concoction that had a number of small bones in it. Disturbing.


There's a restaurant just behind the school, and I've eaten there a number of times, but honestly - the place is disgusting. It's nowhere near clean, and you can see bugs crawling over the walls and tables. The food is pretty good though, it's always served really hot and I've never found anything unsettling in it - or gotten sick. Still, I wouldn't go there if there were another option nearby... but there just isn't. Once I get that motorbike though....


Today after my last class the Head Teacher (who lives in my building) asked if I wanted to stick around and go to the food-court with one of the office staff (who has a car). It was nice to have an actual Thai person with me at the market, because I could ask her what things were, and where I could get what I wanted. It turned out though that I didn't need her language skills because one of the booths had salad rolls packaged to-go. I thought of Mrs.B back home and had to get some!

Those orange things are super tiny shrimp. I thought they were shredded carrots, but then looking at the picture I was like "that carrot has an eye." Hmmm... it was yummy. The sauce is molases based... but has chili peppers in it. A bit of a surprise for me.


I'm still trying to sort out *when* to eat. Monday - Wednesday I have class straight from 2pm-9pm. The first day I'd grabbed a snack to eat on the car between my off campus & on campus classes, but by the end of the day I was still so hungry I wanted to pass out. The second day, I had a few crackers for breakfast, a big lunch, then picked up some to-go food before my class and kept it in the fridge at school. I got to eat a few cold fork-fulls during the 10 min break in my 2.5 hour class, and brought the rest of it home. Not ideal... but it worked. Today I ate a big meal at around 10am, then went to start planning my classes. I was hungry again by 1pm, so I had a big lunch - knowing it would have to last me until 9pm. But then I was really full through my classes.... and I picked up the salad rolls in case I got hungry later.... but I'm still not. Oh well. I'll sort it out one of these days. And you can rest assured that I'll blog all about it. ;)

TAG - Code Mango

Exotic monotony

It's weird how quickly you can go from "OMG - this is insane, everything is so strange and exciting." to "YAWN". I got up relatively early, but just dorked around on the computer for the morning. Then I went in seek of 'breakfast' - picked up some kow pad gai (chicken fried rice) and then off to school at around 11am.


I really didn't need to be there that early - I didn't have class until 2pm, and I'd planned one of my lessons already. But I hung out and planned my other two lessons. The text books are really hit or miss. Sometimes there are really good activities that get the students to use the langugae, and use their own language. But sometimes it's all just listening & writing. And I know it's *my job* to find a way to make the activities more communicative... I'm just not quite there yet. So my lessons were okay - but not great. I've had so many different classes (most of my first two weeks were covering for other teachers' classes) and so many different students, that I can't remember what I did from one class to the next. I covered a class for V. last week, and yesterday she told me that they said I was really easy to understand. But I couldn't for the life of me picture *one* of those students or remember what we had studied. There's a card for each class where I jot down what we did... but that's it. I need to start taking notes about common errors or questions that I need to elaborate on, etc. I haven't sorted out a solid organizational plan yet.


I'm picking up an average of one new Thai word a day. I'm exposed to more than that... but I forget at least half of what I learn each day. Today was "nong laap" - sleep & "nong" - tired. Or something like that. Yes... I could benefit from some dedicated study... but I can't quite afford private lessons yet. There's a lot of life hanging on "when I get paid"... and I won't actually get a full paycheck until November 12 (I'll get two half payments though, on the 12th and 25th which will cover living expenses well enough).


So if you've managed to stay awake through this post - give yourself a gold star, because today's TAG is Code Watermelon.

This is not a plastic bag...

Nothing especially interesting happened today. More classes, more experiments in ordering food.

Good lord... this is my #1 piece of advice for anyone even remotely interested in traveling abroad: STUDY THE FOOD! Know the words (spoken and in writing) for your basic food products chicken, fish, rice, bread, vegetables, spicy, etc. And learn as much about the cuisine as you can. If there's something they eat that you never want to see on a plate - know the word so you can watch out for it (lest you repeat the unfortunate Andouilette experience I had in Paris). I managed fine in Chiang Mai because the restaurants either had menus in English or pictures... but in Rayong, I eat the same 4 meals every day... or I leave it up to chance and let them recommend something. Today I had Dtom Yam - a soup seasoned with lemon grass and kefir lime leaves. It was delicious, but the pork in it was still on the bone so I was picking it apart as I was eating it. Weird. Tasty, but weird. Oh and tonight I thought I learned how to ask for veggies and rice, but somehow there were noodles involved. I have no clue what I actually ordered. It was pretty good.

ANYWAY, nothing especially interesting happened today so I thought I'd dig up one of the topics suggested earlier... Environmental Awareness in Thailand. It's a mixed bag, so I'll just share a few observations.

1. Plastic bags. Every time I buy something, it gets put in at least one plastic bag. When I bought fruit from the guy across from my school in Chiang Mai he would put the sliced fruit in a clear plastic bag, then attempt to put that bag in a mini-shopping bag with handles. Even if I just buy one thing - it goes into a plastic bag. I don't know the words for "no bag" so I motion the best I can and sometimes get them to hand over my stuff without the extra bag. The ironic thing is that there are signs in stores that say "Say no to plastic bags!" and the Top Foods market sold canvas grocery bags as a replacement for plastic. Oh, and I've seen a few people with big shoulder bags that say in English "This is not a plastic bag." So the awareness is there, but it's not totally incorporated into everyday life yet.


2a. Recycling - bottles/cans. I think I've only seen one or two bottle/can recycling bins in Thailand. I asked someone at my apartment in Chiang Mai and he said to leave my bottles next to the trash, that the cleaning lady can take them in for money. I did this for a few weeks, but then noticed one day that the bottles I'd carefully bagged up and set beside the trash bin were *in* the trash bin. So I have no idea if they were ever recycled or not. I got the same story here in Rayong - the cleaning lady can turn them in for money. But there's not a separate place to put them, so it all just goes in the trash.

2b. Recycling - paper products. At both the school in Chiang Mai and the school here they are very good about reusing printer/copier paper. There are signs that say "No Wasting Paper." and "Reusing is good, using less is better." by the copy machine. There's also a tray next to the copier where you can put paper that's only been printed on one side. I use this paper whenever I'm making copies for myself. When I copy for the students though, I use new paper. Outside the school however, I haven't seen a place to recycle papers.

3. Global Warming. People are very much aware of the problem of global warming. I've seen a few different slogans on t-shirts and bags. I did a practic lesson in Chiang Mai on "50 years in the future" and with regards to the environment one group predicted that most of southern Thailand would be flooded, so the population would have to move inland. In another lesson, we asked the students to describe their dream car and most described an electric car or one with 'zero emissions' (the students knew the concept in Thai and asked specifically how to say it in English). However, there's horrible, absolutely HORRIBLE polution in the cities here. I have no idea what, if any, emissions standards there are now, but if you're in traffic for any amount of time, the exhaust fumes become overwhelming. After a few weeks in Chiang Mai I developed a cough that I feel confident I can blame on riding in open Songthaews on a busy road everyday. The cough went away after a week in Rayong, but came back after *one* day in Bangkok. I've seen many people wearing surgical masks while riding their motorbikes. The traffic police have special mini-gas-mask type things they wear. It's a bit scary actually. So again, the awareness is there... but it doesn't seem to be reflected in day-to-day life.


I haven't seen or heard much about organic foods or products, but that might be because I don't know the word for it... same with compost. So it's a bit of a mixed bag... much like in the US I guess.


TAG - Code Mango... everything's fine and I had a nice chat with one of the other teachers today. =)

Ko Samet

In keeping with my goals for living in Thailand, I'd planned to go to the beach on my day off again. I've been to Ban Phe twice now, and wanted to check out Ko Samet this time. Ko Samet is an island just off the coast, it's officially a national park but there are a bunch of resorts there. I wasn't quite sure what to expect but I had heard really good things about it. I took the songtheaw from Rayong to Ban Phe and wandered around all the touristy shops for a while, then got a ticket for the boat.

The boat is only 100B both ways, but admission to the island was 200B for foreigners. Only about $10 US... but my US $$ are slowly but surely diminishing. =/ I debated just going to Ban Phe again, but eventually decided it would be worth it to see someplace new.

I enjoyed the ride over. The ocean is really calm, and I just love the breeze on my face. I still don't know what those other little islands are called though.

About 30 min. later we reached Ko Samet... check out all the cute little bungalos.
The first thing I saw when I got off the dock was a 7/11. It kinda struck me as funny... not so much your desert island experience. But it was nice to have someplace to buy some water. It turned out that there were a LOT of shops - mostly selling touristy stuff, and places to arrange snorkeling trips etc. All along the beach there were hotels and restaurants.
Then, actually on the beach there were a few guys who would walk by selling food, fruit, chicken satay, etc. I bought some pineapple to snack on.


I walked along the beach for a while, trying to find someplace relatively free of people, and I saw this in a tide pool. At first I thought it was a banana peel, but then I thought maybe it was a sea star.... but then it looked a bit like a banana peel again. Opinions?

Sunthorn Phu is Thailand's most popular poet, and he wrote his epic poem Phra Apai Manee right here on Ko Samet. I haven't actually read the poem yet, but apparently it's something to do with a flute player & a mermaid. Intriguing.

The white sand was so fine, like talcum powder. The water, as warm as a bath, and so green today. There are even fewer waves here than on the mainland. It's like lying in a giant bathtub - so relaxing.


The beach from above... the restaurants set out chairs and tables all along the beach, I was just a few yards over, camped out on some rocks.


And here was a lazy fishing boat that just floated on by.

Overall, I had a nice time. I mean, any day at the beach is better than a day at the office - right? But I didn't care for the built-up nature of Ko Samet... or at least of the beach I went to. I saw more farangs than I'd seen in a while, and a lot of chubby Europeans in bikinis... no one really needs to see that. So for now, I think I'll stick to Ban Phe on my days off.


TAG - Code Mango

The Big Mango

Well, I'm back from Bangkok, lighter in the purse but richer in experience I guess.


The office manager at my school - Big, had set up an appointment for me with Mr. P from the Bangkok branch to help me get my visa extended & converted, and to apply for my work permit. I was supposed to meet him at immigration at 10am. There had been some debate in the office about what time I needed to leave. Big had suggested 5am, but one of the other teachers was insistent that I didn't have to leave until around 6:30am. When Pink took me to the bus station I split the difference and got a ticket for 5:55am* . Pink also arranged for a motorcycle taxi to pick me up at my apartment at 5:30am... so it was a pretty early day for me.


The bus took longer than the other teacher had said, and I was starting to get nervous about being late for my appointment, but there wasn't a lot I could do about it so I tried to stay calm. I had directions regarding how to get from the bus station to the immigration office, which turned out to be a bit easier than I thought. I basically got off the bus and looked around until I found the stairs up to the sky train, got a ticket, found the right train and off I went. I almost got off on the wrong stop, but sorted myself out. Then I had to change trains to a different line. Once off the sky train I just had to hire a taxi. There were a lot of 'taxi-meter' car taxis around, but looking at the traffic I decided to go with a motorbike taxi again. I have to say, that's got to be my favorite form of transportation thus far. Seeing Thailand from the back of a motorbike is pretty fun. Motorbikes don't really get stuck in traffic, they just zip around the other cars... and since I'm not driving I don't have to pay too much attention to traffic and can shut my eyes when it gets scary.


My initial impressions of Bangkok were pretty good. The sky train reminded me a LOT of San Francisco.** You know, on a certain level, all big cities feel the same. It's a mix of the shiny, new expensive shops & high-rise buildings, and then the dirty, grimy, smelly, street level stuff. Overall though, it seemed nicer than either Chiang Mai or Rayong. There were plenty of English signs (which made the whole transit thing pretty easy) and I saw a fair number of other farangs. It occurred to me that I do have a bit of a city girl in me and that I might not mind living in Bangkok at some point.


I managed to make it to the Immigration office by 5 'till, but didn't immediately see anyone that appeared to be looking for me. I called Mr. P and he said he'd be there in 5 minutes. I thought maybe he was stuck in traffic, but it turned out he was already there helping a couple other teachers. That's his whole job, running teachers through the bureaucracy. I made sure to be really nice to him & let him know how much I appreciated it!! I can't even tell you how grateful I was. Between Big & Mr. P all I had to do was stand there and look pretty. I mean, I'd had to bring my passport, my original degree, passport photos and 4,000 baht... but they did all the paperwork. He took me through one line, got us a number, went to the table, pasted my picture onto the correct form and said "sign here, sign here, sign here" etc. Then sat me down in the waiting room handed me my stuff and showed me where to see which number was up...then hung back. So I sat and waited until my number came up - went to the window and handed in my stuff. The woman wanted my phone number, which I don't have memorized, so I started digging in my purse for it. By the time I had it out of my bag - Mr. P was at my shoulder making sure there wasn't a problem. The immigration lady gave me another number and Mr. P showed me where to see when that number would come up.


There was a lot of waiting involved, and it was just so odd to be there in this big waiting room with all these other people from around the world. You know how when you go to the DMV and there's someone there who doesn't speak the language, and you hear the guy at the window trying to explain it over and over and you're irritated because your number won't be up until they sort that guy out. Well, it was like that - except I was one of the poor morons who didn't have a clue what was going on. Thank Buddha for Mr. P. My number came up again, pick up my papers, and off to another room to get another number and to wait some more.


My tourist visa was extended, but apparently they weren't able to convert it from a tourist visa to the Non-B immigrant visa right then. They'll be able to do it on the 15th. This was the part that made me nervous, both the woman behind the counter and Mr. P explained to me that I just couldn't leave the country for the next two weeks, which shouldn't be a problem. But then Mr. P said he needed to keep my visa with him so that he could get it stamped on the 15th. Otherwise I'd have to come back. He had a whole folder of passports from the other teachers, and since this is his job I said ok. I just made sure to get a copy of the new visa, to go with the copy of my passport that I keep in my purse.


This is just another example of one of those things I never would have been okay with back in the states. I'm operating so far outside my comfort zone on a daily basis here...it's insane. I think that's why I spend every free moment online. It's the one constant I can hold onto from my old life, my touchstone.


So after going through immigration I decided that I should stick around and actually see something of Bangkok while I was there. I hadn't actually planned on visiting Bangkok so I didn't have anything particular in mind, but I'd grabbed my Lonely Planet guide and kinda flipped through it while waiting. The number one don't-miss sight they recommended was the Golden Palace. I figured out I could take the sky-train to the river and take a river boat up to the palace, then from there I'd figure out a way to come back. But by the time I got back to the Siam sky-train transfer station it had started raining. Hanging out in a boat in the rain didn't sound like too much fun. On the other hand, Siam Station was right next to a huge-ass mall. =)


I spent a good couple of hours wandering around the shops, there was an English language bookstore and a lot of super chi-chi shops I couldn't even afford to look into. But I spent some quality time in the food court. I actually settled on Burger-King... and I'm trying not to feel ashamed. Then I had passion fruit sorbet for dessert and it was gooooood! I looked through my book a bit more and figured out there was a way to take a bus to the Grand Palace, I just had to get back onto the sky-train and go to the other end of the line. One of the gals in the office had suggested I get an all-day pass for the sky train, and I did look for one but didn't see it. In retrospect I should have looked harder because I was on and off that thing all day and I'm sure I spent more than a full-day pass would have cost. I ended up spending a ton of money (and time!) on transportation today. Next time I'll have a better plan. A *much* better plan.


It was still raining when I got off the sky-train and I was getting a bit frustrated because there were all these little shops but no one was selling an umbrella. And of course there are huge puddles everywhere and my feet are getting all clammy and gross. Meanwhile, it's still HOT out, so I was just not loving life. Eventually I found a lady selling umbrellas (the second one I've bought in Thailand =/ ) and while I was there I asked her to point me towards the right bus for where I wanted to go (there was no transit map *anywhere*). She couldn't help me but she pointed to two gals standing nearby handing out flyers for KFC. The girls had these felt chicken hats on. It was a bit hilarious. But one had a mobile phone with something or other v-tech and called someone who spoke English, handed the phone to me - I told her where I wanted to go then handed the phone back to the chicken-girls. They all understood then, and got me pointed in the right direction.


But then, more waiting. Finally find the right bus, but have no idea how much it cost, so just stick out my hand full of change and let the fare checker take however much it is. I tried my best to follow along with the map in my guidebook, but it was really hard to see the street signs. I did my best though and when we got to a big temple I got off and tried to orient myself to the map in the guidebook. I figured I could walk where I wanted to go. The universe had something else in mind.


This guy walks up to me and starts talking to me in English. Where am I from, how long have I been in Thailand... the same questions I've been asked by every single Thai person I've met here. Then he starts looking at my map and telling me I should see x-y & z. I tell him I really just want to see the Grand Palace, but he tells me it's closed. He says I can go see this other famous Buddha statue that's on my map and there's this other "Lucky" Buddha that I should see too. And I ask him where it is and can I walk to it. And he's like - you can take a tuk-tuk, there's a special discount today because the government is handing out cards for free gas or something. As I've mentioned about 500 times, I never know what's going on here, so I didn't really think about it. I was going to just hang out at the temple and take a few pictures before hopping in a tuk-tuk, but he was like "There's a ceremony going on right now, so the temple is closed to tourists." And I do know there's the whole vegetarian thing going on. So I end up getting into a tuk tuk that's conveniently parked right there on the street.


The tuk-tuk driver gives me the same discounted price and confirms Mr. Friendly's story about the gas card thing. So I get in and we start going. As soon as we turn off the main road I start thinking "This is a scam. I've totally been scammed." but at the same time I'm thinking "Why am I so mistrusting? I've done about a million scary weird things in Thailand and it always turns out okay." I look up and the tuk-tuk has a proper license, and a picture of the guy with his name and everything on the wall. Everything looks legit. Eventually we do end up at the temple of the "lucky Buddha" and there's actually a monk there, and a guy with a badge, so I think "Ok - this is what he said it was." And the guy with the badge is chatting with me - he has a cousin in Portland. So as we're chatting I'm like "Is there really a discount on tuk-tuks today?" and he's like "Yeah, because of the discounted gas cards." and I'm like "Oh, good because I wasn't sure if he was being honest." "oh, yeah yeah" and he tells me the same story as the first guy. So I get back to the tuk tuk but as soon as I get in he's like "I need you to help me get my discounted gas card. I just need you to look at this shop...." at which point all the red flags start waving and I'm like "No...I can't help you. Nope, nope nope." and get out of the tuk tuk, and he's like "why not?" but I just paid the 'discounted' fare and started walking away.

The Unlucky Buddha

I totally got scammed. I got out of it before the real scam started. There would have been a store - gem store, antique store, whatever. And I wouldn't have gotten out of there without paying $. But it really upset me that I fell for it. I'd even read about the gem-store scam in my guidebook and still didn't pick up on it until I was in it. I felt really really really stupid....bad stupid.... like that could have been really dangerous stupid. And if you're paying attention you'll have noticed - I HAD MY UMBRELLA WITH ME!!! =(


So I just walked away, I didn't have a clue where I was. I mean... NO CLUE, the map in my guidebook was 'general' at best, and I couldn't follow where he'd driven me anyway. I just headed for a street where I saw a lot of traffic. Then I stood there like a retard for like 10 minutes trying to at least figure out what intersection I was at. I couldn't find the street name anywhere. It took me a while to figure out what to do, I didn't know where I was, but I also didn't know where to go. I'd been on a motorcycle taxi, two sky-train lines and an 40 minute bus ride between the Immigration building and the temple where I'd gotten scammed. I didn't know what I was closest too. Eventually I found a motorcycle taxi and told him to take me to the sky-train. He asked which stop. I couldn't even tell him. He mentioned Siam Station and I was like "sure" - that's where the mall was, and I knew I could get back to my bus to Rayong from there. It was 100B - way more than any other trip I'd taken today - but screw it, I just wanted to be back on familiar ground. And we were a LONG way from Siam Station.


Once we got to the mall, I felt a bit better. I mean, I felt like crap, totally stupid, and upset at getting scammed, and upset that my first excursion into Bangkok involved a full day of waiting around, eating at Burger King and spending several hundred baht just trying to get around. I didn't get to see anything cool, and nearly got screwed out of whatever money I'd had on me. A pretty shitty way to spend the day all in all.


And now I'm think - I wonder what's happened with my passport? I mean, how stupid was that? Even if it does get back to me, has my info been copied & sold off to who knows whom? I hate feeling like this. I want to be able to trust people here.... I *need* to be able to trust people here, because I really can't function all on my own. I don't want to have my guard up all the time. I don't want to live like that.


I'm putting today's TAG at Bananas.... but if I've just had my passport stolen, we're upgrading to Durian.




* The word for 'five' in Thai is 'ha' so instead of typing LOL in txt, they type 555

** The single smartest thing I before going to Thailand was to visit J in San Francisco. Not only did we have a good time, but she helped me sort out my luggage, gave me the backpack that I use every single day here, and she taught me how to ride the BART - which has the same set up as the Bangkok Sky Train (and a bunch of other systems I'm sure). It's a lot easier to deal with forgetting to take my card out of the slot & slamming into the turnstile when it's just a friend laughing, and not a bunch of strangers getting irritated that you're holding up the line.

Smooth Talking 101

TAG - Mango with a side of fried Bananas.


Another interesting day... but mostly good. I had a morning class from 10-noon that was pretty quiet. I'd had them twice before though, so I felt comfortable going in. Then I had two new Business English classes in the evening, 4:30-6pm & 6:30 - 8:30pm (unfortunately the first one is off campus, half an hour away - you do the math!)


I'm going to Bangkok tomorrow to get my work permit & extend my visa, so today at lunch Pink took me to get the bus ticket. I hopped on the back of her motorbike and off we went. After that she took me to a Chinese temple for lunch. There's a vegetarian festival in Thailand every year in October. I don't totally understand why - it's related to Buddhism, but as we walked past the temple, Pink didn't wai (a sign of respect) or stop at the alter or anything... she just took me down to the big hall where the food was. It was somewhat communal, dishes, chopsticks and rice in the center of the room... then they bring four prepared dishes to your table. One was a spinach & tofu dish (delicious!!), a carrot & jicama broth based soup, Chinese bamboo and mushrooms, and some other thing that was brown and spicy. The food was really good, and Pink was surprised that I could use chopsticks. Score one for the farang girl! =) when we got up to go I asked how much it was, and she said it was free. So, I guess it was like a church supper kind of thing.


On the way back though, she went over a rock and got a flat tire. I felt really bad, because I'm not exactly a skinny little asian girl, and in addition to my fat farang butt, I carry with me about 20+lbs of books in my backpack. I kinda felt like it was my fault. But of course Pink didn't say anything, and it only cost 40B to fix, so it wasn't a huge crisis. It did mean, however, that it took us an extra half hour to get back to school. I had about 2 hours to plan for my two evening classes. I did it though, not the best lessons in the world - but I wasn't going to be going into the classroom blind. Or so I thought!


The card for my off campus class said they'd been assigned two different things for homework, so I had planned to start by reviewing them. OF COURSE they didn't do it. So I had them do one of the activities in class and it threw me off a bit. Not too bad, but I went over by about 5 minutes. No problem, except that I was 30 minutes away from my 6:30 class...and there was traffic.


No problem... no problem, the Thai people are pretty laid back, so when I got into class all my students were there, no one seemed upset. Almost all my students work at the local Petroleum processing plant, the electric company, or a manufacturing plant. Most are literally blue-colar workers, wearing uniforms with their names on them. I started by introducing myself and said they could ask any questions they wanted - a dangerous gambit - but they're an elementary class... how bad could it be? Oh lordy. So they start by asking where I come from, am I married, why did I choose Thailand, what did I study at University, etc. Their English is actually really fluent... not perfectly accurate, but they communicated well. And then, one of the guys asks me - "Why are you so beautiful?" =O The guys laughed and I said "Because my mother is very beautiful." And the other guys were like "You look lovely." and I was like "Where did you learn this stuff?"


When I started to take attendance it became clear that I had the wrong info card for the class.... and had prepared the entirely wrong lesson. =( Roll with the punches, roll with the punches. I scrapped the book and decided to just talk to them. I had them start by introducing themselves. But I could soon tell that half the class was completely checked out - so I told them to ask each other questions. The first question to pop up? "How many girlfriends do you have?" LOL. Eventually the guys told me that hey all knew each other really well, so I had them introduce each other...and things just went out of control from there. I mean, with one guy they said he played football (soccer) really well, but there was a lot of "He has many many girlfriends." "He really likes beautiful women." and with one of them it was "He's a smooth talker." and they all started immitating him on the phone to women "You look so lovely." "Hello beautiful..." "oh baby, I love you so much." and I just bust up. I completely disolved into giggles. And then of course they'd laugh at me, and I'd start laughing again. All through class I'd look at the guy and just start giggling again. Not the most professional start to this class.


Eventually I had them crack open the book, and we very loosely followed a couple of the activities. Mostly we had a roundtable discussion about Starbucks' business plan, and the pros & cons of mega-marts like Carrefour & Walmart. More of a business discussion than any kind of grammar lesson... but I'll call it a 'freer practice fluency exercise' and call it good. Next week I will at least know what to plan for. I told them I'd make them work really hard.... but I really don't think they believed me.


So overall today was good. But I'm a little freaked out about tomorrow. I don't know what to expect from Bangkok - I've heard that it's hot & dirty & crowded... not my favorite things. Plus there's the whole travel time and switching trains and waiting for who knows how long in the immigration office. None of it sounds fun. But I've also heard there's a giant mall where I can get any kind of western food that I want. So I might just camp out there for an hour or two being farang-girl eating any kind of cheese type food I can get my hands on, and that's as much 'sight seeing' as I have planned.


I don't know, sometimes I feel like the worst tourist, I really haven't explored as much of Thailand as one might expect for having been here for over a month. I barely know any Thai, and really haven't been all that adventurous with regards to eating new foods or talking to new people. I'm experiencing a lot of new things for me, but I feel like I've barely scratched the surface of what kinds of experiences one *can* have here. But then I think... do I really want to be a tourist? Or do I want to experience life in another culture? Because I feel like I'm doing that - as authentically as I can.

Safety Dance

For those of you who read Random Meanderings - this will be an old rant... but I'm going to rant about it anyway.


I had my business English class tonight (and my first woman student) from 6-9pm. After the lesson we sat for a minute just talking. They asked where I live, and I told them (it's about a 7 min. walk - what's that- half a mile?) and they asked how I get home. "I walk." Then they started getting concerned. "It's too far!" "Do you have a friend to walk home with?" etc. It got to be a bit much. I feel safer in Rayong than I did in Portland. Yes, it gets dark early... but more people are outside their homes... or inside with the doors & windows open. From the food court where I eat dinner after class to to home I walk by the same people everynight. First the prostitutes (at first I thought they were just waiting for a ride... but now I'm pretty sure they're looking for business) Then I walk past the laundry guy who always asks me "Where you come from?" and "Where you go?" (the literal English translation of a Thai greeting like "How's it going?") and then the family with a little shop and the boy who says "Hello" to me. Then I go past the restaurant (all open air again) and the guys sitting at the table across the street. Then when I get to my building, there's the parking attendant/security guard greeting me at the gate. This is along a relatively well lit 10 minute walk.


I'm not naive, I know that there are dangers everywhere. And I realize not knowing the language or the culture here puts me at a disadvantage. But I also know to keep my wits about me, eyes open, aware of what's going on. And I know that the US has one of the highest rates of violent crime of any developed country... so I am statistically much safer here than 'back home'.


Honestly, the most frightening thing about Thailand for me is the traffic. I have to cross 8 lanes of main-road traffic to get to school - with no cross walk or traffic light. Every day I take my life in my hands stepping onto that street. (The rule is, wait for a half-way decent gap, and just go. Don't slow down, don't speed up, don't make eye contact, just go. The traffic will swerve around you. If you hesitate - if you panic, you throw off the rhythmn of traffic and you're dead.)


But the students really got worried. Especially when I told them I went out for dinner after class. They told me to eat dinner before class so that one of them could drive me home. It was sweet, really. I do appreciate their concern. But it was also irritating. I'm an adult, and I don't like being told what I should or shouldn't do. More than that though, I don't like being told that I should be afraid.


After class I stayed behind a minute to put my papers away and when I left the building two of my students were leaving the parking lot. As soon as they saw me, one hopped out of the car and ushered me into the front seat. There was no arguing with them. They drove me to the food court and lectured me the whole way. "In every country there are good men and bad men. Be careful! Carry an umbrella with you." Etc etc. I wish I knew exactly how dangerous this neighborhood was.... but I've only been able to find general stats for the country - which confirmed my feeling that Thailand has far less violent crime than the US. But maybe it really is a 'bad neighborhood' maybe people get attacked here all the time. I don't know. I just know I can't live my life in fear. I just can't.


I intend to get a motorbike once I get my first real paycheck (end of October) and then at least I'll get home more quickly. But until then, I'll take my chances.


TAG - Pineapple



Oh - and I have actually gotten to teach three repeat classes, and am already starting to feel a bit better. It's nice to *know* what we covered last time so I can spend some time reviewing before getting into that day's lesson. Of course I have a bunch of new classes for October, so the anxiety will be back shortly. The roller-coaster keeps zipping along.

50 first dates

Except not with Adam Sandler. =(

I've been teaching for a week and I've had 6 different classes. Each one feels like a blind date. I do my best to get ready, but I never know what I'm getting into. I get just a few notes from the previous teacher about what they covered in the last session, and I have to figure out where to go from there. I never know how much English they'll know, I never know how old they'll be, how many men vs. women (although, so far all of my students - with the exception of two girls and two boys in the Supertots class - have been men). Since I'm the new teacher, I've been doing a lot of substitute teaching for teachers who've left or who went on a visa run or whatever. And I'm never quite sure what I'm supposed to be doing, and I have no idea if I'll ever see those students again. I'm holding on to the thread of hope that once I get my real schedule for October I'll start feeling more comfortable with my classes, and I'll have some idea of how to pace my lessons. But who knows?


Yesterday I was feeling pretty good because I had one class scheduled for tonight - with students I'd already taught once. I planned out a lesson and had intended to spend the day at the beach. But as I was getting dinner last night I got a call. The American teacher, Mr. J had gotten into a motorcycle accident and they needed me to cover his class. Actually they wanted me to cover two of his classes... but I knew that was too much for me, so I agreed to take one, from 3-5pm. But there went my trip to the beach. =( Also, Mr. J hadn't listed what page numbers they'd covered in the previous lesson, so again, I'm clueless about what to cover. I think I'll just do some review, then skip ahead to the next module.


I hate being a crappy teacher. I really want to feel like I'm actually teaching something... but it hasn't happened yet. =( So, again I'm sitting here just a ball of anxiety with no clue what's going to happen in class tonight. And I can't even imagine what it's going to be like in October when I start teaching full time. I only had 16 hours of teaching this week, I'll have 25 when I go full time. Why am I doing this again???


TAG - Bananas

A thousand words....

You've been patient... you will be rewarded. =) I finally got my internet sorted out. It was a bit of an adventure and fairly expensive, but now I'm blue-toothed & Wi Fi-ed and am *finally* able to upload pictures. I'll do it in a couple of chunks.







First up... my apartment in Rayong.



See... all cleaned up, it's not so bad. It's basic, but big, has A/C, a ceiling fan, a balcony, and it's close to work.








This is the view outside my window (well, looking left). It's so lush!




Snacks! These are a few things I picked up at the market I went to with Ms Canada:

Surprise buns - these had ham in them, but could just as easily have had chocolate. The bread itself is actually really sweet so it's kind of a strange taste combination... you really do just have to have an open mind.

Mango on reddish-black rice sweetened with coconut milk and your garden variety chow mein. Yum!

I've noticed that the portion sizes are bigger here than in Chiang Mai. It's kind of nice since I don't have a kitchen and need to go out any time I'm hungry (more food in a sitting means less wandering around looking for food), but at the same time - I've seen a surprising number of chubby Thais in Rayong.

Next - Ban Phe.

A thousand more words...

Ban Phe is the beach near Rayong. I've been told there's a beach closer... but I don't know the name of it, and there are songthaews with "Rayong - Ban Phe" on them - so I just hop on.

The market (as seen from the songthaew)... actually, there were markets all over the place, some selling food, other selling tourist stuff, decorative shell art, fisherman shorts, batik sarongs etc. etc. When I get paid I'm going back and I will be shameless with my shopping.

The beach. The island in the distance is Ko Samet (I think - there were a few different islands, one of them is Samet). It was overcast so the water looks kind of grey, but it was warm outside and the ocean felt like bathwater, it was incredible. And look at the waves... so mild.

Are you suggesting that coconuts migrate?

This is what Code Mango looks like:

(BTW - I went back to the beach on Friday and lost those glasses to a surprisingly big wave. D'oh! Apparently I learned nothing from J's experience in India. Fortunately, I brought three pairs of glasses with me... so I'm good until I can get replacement sunglasses.)

Another thousand words or so....

Let's look at some Rayong wildlife!



This little gecko is in my bathroom. He's on the other side of the window screen, but I've seen a few actually in my room too. I don't mind the geckos so much since they tend to stay up on the walls and not on the floor where I could step on them. Also, they eat bugs, and I hate bugs. Geckos = good.








I was just walking down the street to go to work and I heard some roosters... and sure enough there they were wandering around in someone's yard. I was a little excited because 'gai' (chicken) is one of the few words I know. =) I've seen at least one hen, and a few baby chicks too.




The cows were a total surprise... they were just walking down the street between the gas station and my apartment. I don't understand why they're so scrawny though. Rayong is extremely green & lush and there appears to be grass everywhere. I thought maybe it's not enough of the right kind of grass or something. I don't know enough about cows to say. Or maybe it's too hot for them to want to eat much. No idea.

This is the apartment dog, he's a pet and well cared for, but there are soi dogs *everywhere*.

It's really disturbing actually - they just run wild everywhere. In Chiang Mai the dogs pretty much left me alone, but here I've been barked at a bit and if I happen to be eating something, I have an immediate audience. It makes me really nervous. None of the soi dogs are in particularly good shape (and none are fixed!), but some have serious skin conditions or scrapes and scratches. I saw one dog missing half of one of his front legs & paw, and the other day I saw a dog get run over by a van, I had to look away, the poor thing was howling and all the other dogs were barking. Horrible.

Another stray dog - this one was at the beach, there were several. One dog came up and actually nipped at my leg while I was buying food. He didn't actually bite, and fortunately I was wearing pants so I didn't even get his saliva on me... but still a bit disturbing. I'm not sure what the protocol for dogs is, do you yell at them - or does that just make them mad? So far I've been ignoring them / walking away, and hoping for the best.

Finally... the little calico at my apartment complex. She came right up to me and wanted some lovin', but wouldn't stand still for the camera. Who does she remind you of?

Of course she's about 400lbs lighter than Sally... but she has the same coloring.

Oh, and I'll leave you with my moment of brilliance for the day. I kept noticing magazines with pictures of Bettas on the cover. I couldn't figure it out until finally I realized the other name for a Betta is Siamese Fighting Fish, and Siam = Thailand. Suddenly it all started clicking - Siamese cats, Siamese twins... all of it. That's Thailand! =) Not stupid... just a bit slow. ;)

Ups & downs & getting down to basics.

TAG - Pineapple

The downs: I don't really like any of the other teachers yet. I've seen two of the guys yelling at the office staff so far. Having *been* office staff - that's just not cool with me. Also, I thought I was going to have Friday & Saturday off, but found out today that I will need to cover for another teacher on Saturday and will have two classes to prepare for. One of which is a class of7 year olds!!!! 'Cause you know I love baby-sitting. =/ So instead of chilling out at the beach tomorrow - I'll be lesson planning (I'll try to make it out for at least a little while).

The ups: I sucked a bit less in my lesson today. Just a bit, but I think I'm going to start getting the hang of this. And once I get into a groove I'll feel better about balancing out crap lessons with okay lessons. Then tonight I was having dinner and one of my students came up to me. He introduced me to his wife & son and they sat and chatted with me for a minute. They let me practice a little Thai with them. So that was nice.


One of the things I'm learning here is to break things down into the essentials. Things are just *not* the same, and you can drive yourself crazy thinking about all the things that just don't equate with life back home. But if you figure out what you really need and start looking for what they have here that meets that need, you can find it. For example, I was looking for paperboard 3 ring folders in A4 size. But I haven't found them anywhere. But then I realized, I don't need a 3 ring (or even 2 ring) folder... what I need is someplace to put my lesson plans to keep them organized. I found some cheap plastic envelope type things that will do the trick just fine.


So overall I'm trying to break my experience, and what I want from this experience, into essentials. Then I can see if I'm getting what I want out of the experience or not.


What I want to get out of living in Rayong:

- I want to gain some teaching experience and build up my confidence.
- I want to spend quality time at the beach. Who knows when else in life I'll be this close to such an amazing place?
- I want to replenish my savings. I've still got a bit of money in my account, but I'm feeling increasingly nervous about spending it all on living expenses. I'd like to have a couple month's (Thai) living expenses saved up before leaving.
- I want to learn enough Thai to accomplish my day-to-day activities.
- I want to really learn to ride a motorbike.
- I'd like to make some real friends. But that's hard anywhere I go, so I don't know how much to factor this into the equation.
- I want to continue to have new experiences.

So as long as those things seem to be happening and I'm still on balance enjoying life, I'll stick it out. But if the office stuff starts bringing me down and/or interfering with my ability to do the things I want to do...then I'll start thinking about what needs to change.